Songwriting Intermediate II

The last chord of the verse sections should have Subdominant function which may be the actual subdominant chord. Taking the example of a verse starting in C Major then it's last chord could be F Major but other chords can serve as substitutes for subdominant function. The second chord D minor will work.

You just don't want to end on the I or the V chord in the verse unless you know how to treat them, such as placing the IM7 chord in 3rd inversion weakening it's tonic function. Now you have the first and the last chords of the verse and the first chord of the chorus. Often the chorus ends on the I chord but you can also use another chord that can substitute for the tonic function such as the iii chord. Following these "rules" for harmony will help avoid wandering chord progressions.

Another thing to think about is what the Beatles used to do. They would say if the chorus doesn't have any chromaticism then the verse will: either in the melody or in the chord progression or both. Another way to do that is if there is chromaticism in the melody in the verse then there won't be chromaticism in the chorus' melody but can be in the chorus' harmony in order to change things up.

The same idea applies to the melodic rhythm. One section can have some syncopation, while the other is more flat footed. Or if the melody is flat footed then the accompaniment is syncopated and visa versa. That's not something I've employed much consciously but I'll give it a shot at some point not that I probably haven't already done it unintentionally.

Also the first phrase within a section can be syncopated while the second phrase is flat footed or the antecedent within the first phrase is syncopated while the consequent is more on the beat within the first phrase. Cuban and African music even take it down to the level of one or two measures, where the first measure of the Clave is syncopated and the second measure is on the beat.

Hope that helps. I'd say good luck but it's mostly skill.

Southeast Asian Melody

Southeast Asia's melodic development is very similar to the Indian. But it gives a straight melody with an ornamented version and variations such as a rhythmically altered version all presented simultaneously. Voice crossing is integral to gamelan music. It’s used to maintain interest.

Sometimes the melody is played at different tempos simultaneously. Western melody is very goal oriented. Gamelan melody is not like this and is supposed to create a timeless feeling which it does quite effectively. Like the classical music of India and Korea, the introduction usually has a part where there is no rhythmic beat. The Kebyar form has a melody in unison during the intro with no beat or it occasionally plays interlocking rhythms alternated with melody played by different groupings of the instruments. It plays interlocking variations in subsequent sections. It also has a grand finale beginning slow and ending fast just like Indian and Korean music.

Before moving from the intro to the first section, the rhythm can completely break down while the musicians play fast but soft and making sure their part does NOT match rhythmically with anyone else’s as a transition. In the first section it has interlocking rhythms which is also found in the music of Africa, Cuba and Haiti though not as much in a melodic form but only in a rhythmic one.

Gamelan music is based on a cantus firmus similar to the occidental sacred music that was based on the ancient melodies of Gregorian chant. The scale is based on ten equal divisions and their first scale was slendro which is about equal to C,D,F,G and A. It’s a pentatonic scale. This scale is used in temple services which are a combination of Budhism, Hinduism in Bali and Buddhism and Islam in Java. It is considered more dignified and less passionate than the pelog scale which sounds angry or sad to the South East Asians.

Pelog was created after the Dutch invasion. The native people fought bravely for a long time but were cornered and about to be captured at which point the people who were still alive, of which there were a large number, committed mass suicide. The music created using Pelog is supposed to sound like the thunder of war and the clash of armies. It became popular very quickly and the forms that use it such as Kebyar, were never elitist music played in the courts of the king. It is a very recent development.

Pelog has three forms known as patet. The first is roughly equal to C, Db, Eb, G and Ab a kind of Phrygian pentatonic scale. Anything played in pelog immediately sounds exotic to westerners because of the flat second degree and the strange skipping of F and B(b). One instrument in the ensemble plays neighbor notes around the cantus in a tenor voice where the cantus note is the middle of three notes. There are several different kinds of interlock! ing rhythms in gamelan music. The first is just a repeated note. The second is in the range of a fifth and where the two rhythms coincide, they meet on the fifth. The lower voice of the interlocking rhythm is comosed after the cantus. The upper voice is composed after that.

The music has breaks and fill to add variety and to mark sections. Gamelan music has a colotomic structure where the largest gong marks the beginning and ending of large sections. Usually only the most experienced musicians play it, since its placement is so important. It plays every 32 or 64 beats, for example depending on the structure. Gongs for the colotomic structure are often gloriously out of tune with the rest of the ensemble. There are higher gongs which divide the structure further.

One set of gongs plays on the last beat of every measure. This is similar to Korean music which places the accent in the same place and very different from western musical practice which usually places the accent on the first beat of every measure. The rhythms usually coincide on the last beat of a measure and meet on the fifth as I said before. When the music gets fast the players divide the music between them in hockett so that each person takes a turn playing each note of the interlocking rhythm. This technique is applied to all instrumental ensembles even one made up only of flutes. The higher pitched and fastest instruments are played by the youngest members of the ensemble.

Playing in a gamelan orchestra is considered a community service. Songs are often named after the doings of animals. The cantus has definite methods for targeting destination notes. Just like classical and jazz. The most senior musician plays the drums and/or rebab, a bowed string instrument. Flutes play in unison with the rebab.

Southeast Asian/Gamelan Music

Indian, Persian and Southeast Asian music has a cyclic rhythmic concept and so the circular representation of it is the most appropriate. This is also the way they view time with reincarnation and past-lives etc. so the circular representation is a natural.

If we look at the rhythmic cycle in gamelan music on a circular grid, it often has two superimposed triangles representing 6 rhyhmic events divided into two kinds played in duple meter. They do not create polyrhythmic tuplets so are not symmetrical triangles. But the way the two overlap produces a symmetrical star of David/Jewish star, though usually the downbeat is not on the axis of symmetry.

Microtones:

Indonesian Gamelan has an octave divided into ten equal parts for the Slendro scale. Ten being a number of completion in Chinese theory which was carried to South-East Asia. Thai music is divided into seven equal parts where two are left out, usually the 4th and 6th so that there isn't just a scale of all equal intervals like the whole tone. This creates a pentatonic scale (5 notes). The notes that are left out are sometimes used as ornaments and passing tones. Burma leaves those degrees out too and also makes another scale in seven equal but leaves out the third and seventh instead.

Healing Music, Gamelan and Microtones:

The binaural beats of gamelan, created by the 2 identical instrument sets which are tuned about a 1/4 step apart, synchronizes with alpha or theta brainwave patterns depending on the exact distance of the interval. Gamelan musicians even say that their intent is to make the audience half-awake/half-asleep. I thought a 12-string type guitar retuned could also reproduce the shimmering quality of gamelan. The scraper used in Cuban music can also scrape out brain wave tuplets in 7, 9, 11, 13 or whatever.

My Bio V

My music also incorporates music from Cuba and the Carribean. It also uses drones, modal chord progressions and instruments from around the world such as Koto, Gongs and Gamelan. My music sometimes utilizes interlocking patterns in the vein of gamelan and African Amadinda.

My music could be described as Bankok Blue meets Deep Forest.

I'm a member of "TAXI" the world's largest independant A&R company. I'll be marketing my Resplendant Garden of Contemplation/Gongchime Rainforest project to the Cultural Creatives market as well as to T.V. and film through sound libraries. Some titles from my portfolio include;